Anandpur Sahib-Naina Devi road is now national highway

Amaninder Pal

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 28

Twelve road links in Punjab have been declared national highways, including the road connecting Anandpur Sahib to Naina Devi – the popular Sikh and Hindu shrines located in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, respectively.

Besides, another strategically important link that has been declared national highway is from Gurdaspur to Khemkaran via Dera Baba Nanak, Ajnala, Amritsar and Bhikhiwind.

Having a total length of 162 km, this highway, which would join towns located along the Indo-Pak border, is the largest to be approved by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The total length of all these links is around 1,140 km. Declared national highways, these road links will now be developed and maintained by the Centre through NHAI.

The nod to declare the Gurdaspur-Khemkaran road link as national highway has been given under the Central government’s “Bharatmala project”, which aims at connecting cities located along crucial international borders with better road links.

The road to Naina Devi has been adopted by the NHAI under its project to connect popular pilgrimage sites, said an official associated with NHAI projects in Punjab.

“Files pertaining to these two roads have already been cleared by the Ministry of Road Surface and Transport. Formal notification in this regard will be issued in a couple of days,” the official added.

Naina Devi will be connected to the national highway connecting Jalandhar to Chandigarh from Banga town in SBS Nagar. From Banga, it will lead to Garhshankar, Anandpur Sahib and eventually to Naina Devi.

Meanwhile, the Centre has said it would convert the congested Sirhind-Bassi Pathana-Morinda road into a national highway.